Reunions of the Not-So-Pleasant Kind
by StoneyT456
Summary: When Keith returns to Voltron after finding his mother, he expects to be alone on the ship. When he runs into another Paladin, he expresses his fear of having a family, only to learn that he's had one all along. (basically klangst/complete for now, will continue if asked).


**Chapter One**

Lance stared out at the stars in front of him lost in thought. It was moments like these, when the ship was quiet except for the low hum , that Lance liked to enjoy coming out to the deck by himself and just gaze out into the stars. That was afterall, why he joined the Garrison in the first place. Young Lance would have said he joined because of his lifelong obsession with Star Wars, but truthfully he was just an astronomy nerd.

The door behind him opening drew him out of his thoughts.

"Lance?" A voice asked.

He knew that voice. That voice was not supposed to be here. "Keith?" He turned and saw the fellow paladin standing there with a surprised look on his face. He was not wearing his Blade uniform, instead a long black sweatshirt and jeans, something he had personally never seen him wear before. His hair was tied behind him and he looked surprised to see Lance standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Keith asked.

"I still live here! What are you doing here?" Lance said a bit too loud making Keith cringe. Lance mentally berated himself for yelling at the normally quiet paladin and instead angry whispered at him. "If we would have known you were coming we would have all waited for you. Maybe thrown an elaborate party. Man Hunk is going to be-"

"Lance, can you just be quiet for a second?" Keith asked looking out at the stars next to Lance, not even looking at him.

"Uh... sure." Lance said confused.

The two of them quickly fell into a peaceful silence as they both looked out the window. After a while Lance could not control his curiosity anymore and looked over at Keith who seemed to barely notice him. Lance continued to stare (perhaps a little too long) before he spoke.

"Keith, what's going on?" He asked concerned.

Keith sighed at the break in the silence and turned to him. "I found her." He simply said.

Lance was even more confused. "Found who?"

"I found my mom." He said looking away.

Whatever Lance was expecting to hear, that was not it. "You... you did what? You found her? Dude, that's... awesome?"

"I don't know what it is."

"But she's your mom. Why are you not like, jumping off the walls yet?" Lance asked leaning towards Keith, trying to get him to look at him instead of his spot intensely staring out the window.

Keith turned towards him again. "She's my mom. I've never had a... mom before. I've had foster moms but never an actual one. I don't know how to have a family." He was frustrated at this point and now his own voice began to rise. "She said that she wants to be apart of my life now but I don't know how to handle that! I don't know how to be apart of a family! I don't know what it feels like to have someone tell me they love me and care about me! What if I mess all of it up? I just... I can't deal with all of this and deal with the Blade. I can't have emotions like this."

Lance put his hands up. "Woah, slow down there Keith. There are a lot of things wrong with what you just said."

Keith looked at him confused and frustrated. "What do you mean I was wr-"

Lance flopped his hands exasperated. "Because you do have a family Keith! Me, Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Coran! We're your family? Or did you forget us with all your time over at the Blade? You have a family here, Keith. We've always been here."

Keith scoffed. "It's not the same, Lance. It has never been the same for me."

Lance crossed his arms, now officially mad at him. "Please explain to me this 'difference'."

Keith sighed, no longer meeting his eyes, instead looking down at the ground. "When I first joined Voltron, I was an outsider. You, Pidge, and Hunk were best friends from school, Allura and Coran already knew each other, and Shiro was going through his own stuff. I didn't fit in anywhere. When Shiro went missing and we found out I was Galra, I just felt that even more. When Shiro came back, I saw that the team didn't need me as much as you all thought you did. I pulled out and you guys have been better for it."

Lance had a dark look on his face. "That's not true."

Keith looked up to meet his eyes and he was surprised to see the furious expression on Lance's normally cheering face. "Yeah, it is Lance. I was a danger to the entire team. But with the Blade, they taught me that emotions are for the weak and that to make it in the world, you have to survive and not be afraid to make the ultimate sacrifice. But now that my mom is here, I just don't know how I'm supposed to do that."

"You were never a danger to this team, Keith. I mean sure, there were some times when I thought you were insane, but you were never a danger to the team. And as far as the Blade goes, they're wrong."

Keith scoffed at him and turned away. Lance reached out and turned his face towards him making Keith tense up. "I'm serious." Lance said. "Having emotions doesn't make you weak, it makes you stronger. No matter what the Blade says."

"That's all great talk Lance, but you have to admit that the team has been doing just fine without me. I know that Allura talks about the lions picking someone, but Red and the Black Lion both seemed fine with me gone."

Lance frowned. "That's not fair and you know it. When Shiro was gone, he wanted you to take over the spot of the Black Lion and Red knew that you didn't want to be here anymore. That is the only reason she let me in. The only reason Keith. And for your information, it took us a while to get used to you being gone. The entire team missed you. Shiro and Allura were both moody, Hunk wouldn't leave the kitchen, Pidge wouldn't leave her lab, and Coran went all commander mode on us. I stayed on the bridge worried that if as soon as I left we would get a contact from the Blade saying something bad happened. We all care about you, Keith. A lot. And frankly, I don't want you working with the Blade if they think that you can just go sacrifice yourself for no good reason.

Keith chuckled. "I didn't know you cared."

Lance placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "We all care."

The two of them once again descended into a silence. "So...your mom." Lance began, trying to move the conversation in a less serious manner. "Is she like... hot or..?"

"Dude!" Keith said pushing Lance away.

"It's a reasonable question I mean look at-" Lance was about to finish the sentence but his face went totally red as his hand went over his mouth to cover it.

"Finish that sentence." Keith grinned at him.

Lance shook his head behind his hand and Keith grinned even wider.

"To answer your question, she's beautiful." Keith said. "She's Galra, which didn't really come as a surprise, but... she is definitely my mom."

Lance was recovered enough to speak. "So now we have two Keith Koganes in the galaxy. Oh boy."

"Not only that," Keith said, "she's a member of the Blade."

"Seriously?" Lance asked.

"Seriously."

"But, what are the odds?"

Keith shrugged. "Maybe destiny."

"Yeah maybe something like that." Lance said. "When do we get to meet her?"

Keith looked at him incredulously. "After the comment you just made? Never."

"Oh gee, thanks." Lance deadpanned and the two of them laughed.

Lance could tell that the nervousness that Keith had before had vanished almost entirely, and while he knew that they definitely still had more to talk about, as he watched Keith laugh and relax with him, he knew they had made serious progress.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hi there guys! This is my fist Voltron fic so please be gentle with me. This is set somewhere between season 5 episodes five and six. Also, I inteded it to be a one shot, but if y'all like it, I may or may not have an idea for a couple more chapters (filled with klangst of course).**

 **Let me know!**

 **~stoneyt456**


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